A woman trying to evade the police deliberately crashed into two police cars while making her get-away and almost smashed into another two police vehicles.

On Friday, Berkeley police spotted a 1996 Honda Passport that fit the description of a vehicle used in a March 18 robbery at a grocery store in Berkeley, according to a police department press release. Police attempted to stop the car in the 1500 block of Stuart Street, but the driver did not comply with their orders.(…)

Workers at one of the largest foundries on the West Coast voted to accept a new contract this morning, according to Elisabeth Jewel, a spokeswoman for the company. She did not provide any details of the agreement and union officials have not yet returned phone calls.

About 470 workers walked out of the plant at midnight Monday March 21 in protest of what they said was an unacceptable contract offer. Pacific Steel had apparently asked workers to pay a larger percentage of their health care costs, which could have amounted to a 10% pay cut.(…)

Alice Waters has joined Twitter, and in a way only Waters can: with style and a splash.

Her brand new Twitter page – apparently launched on Thursday – is decorated with red chickens daintily pecking the ground for food. How Alice.

And even though she hasn’t sent out a single tweet, and is only following Chez Panisse and The Edible Schoolyard, she already has more than 1,400 followers. They include some of the big names in the food world, like Kim Severson of the New York Times, Alder Yarrow, who writes the Vinography wine blog, Sarah Henry, who writes Lettuce Eat Kale, Carolyn Jung, a former food editor for the Mercury News who now writes Food Gal, Educated Palates, the people behind UC Press’s food publications, and Humphrey Slocombe, the San Francisco ice cream store. Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, is also following Waters.

Apparently, Waters set up the twitter account so she can make a big announcement on Monday, March 28, according to SFFoodie.

David Prior, the communications director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, told Berkeleyside earlier this week that something surprising would be happening, although he didn’t say what. Could it involve the 40th anniversary celebration for the restaurant? Although Chez Panisse sent out a “save the date” card earlier this year announcing it would hold a party for 5,000 at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater on August 28th, those plans have changed, said Prior.

Clearly, joining Twitter has captured people’s attention — something Waters is very good at doing. Let’s wait and see what she has to say.

Devin McDonald and Jenny Stevenson took on a much-loved Berkeley institution when they bought Mr Mopps’ toy store in October. The couple read about Mr Mopps’ being for sale on Berkeleyside and decided it was their mission to save it.

Kim Aronson is an online community builder who has lived in Berkeley for the past decade. He makes short films on the side. This is his fifth video report for Berkeleyside about Berkeley people — your neighbors.(…)

And second, the U.S. lags far behind other countries when it comes to building green schoolyards with eco-friendly aspects beyond a produce patch — in other words spaces that encourage play with potential risk. We’re talking less asphalt and metal structures, and more nature nooks and shaded ponds.

An environmental planner, Danks and landscape architect Lisa Howard run Bay Tree Design in Berkeley, which specializes in designing ecological outdoor play spaces. They incorporate ideas Danks picked up from her playground adventures overseas.(…)

For the last seven years. Berkeley artist Suzy Barnard has been obsessed by the cargo ships on San Francisco Bay. Each day, as she drives over the Bay Bridge to her studio on the waterfront, she scans the water for ships bringing cargo to unload at the docks. Once she is in front of her easel staring out at the water, she finds herself captivated by the play of light.

“Although my studio is based across the bridge in the city, I’m finding that the commute from Berkeley to my studio is providing much new material for my work,” said Barnard. “I’ve been focused on painting ships and water and weather, which all started when I got a studio at Pier 70, right on the water, looking towards the East Bay. Now, the drive over the bridge often has me ogling the vista from that vantage point, and trying to take rather hit or miss photographs while driving, for reference point for further painting prospects.”(…)

Willard Middle School: no longer under consideration for the REALM Charter School

Willard Middle School is no longer in the running as a possible location for the middle school part of the city’s new REALM Charter School — much to the relief of many Willard parents who were campaigning against the move.

After a closed meeting Wednesday, the BUSD Board announced it had decided against Willard as a home for Berkeley’s new Revolutionary Education and Learning Movement (REALM) middle school

Victor Diaz, REALM’s principal, told Berkeleyside on March 17 that he was opposed to Willard as a site. “We don’t want that solution,” he said. “We don’t want to disrupt Willard’s program. We think we’re coming close to a deal on the commercial property, and we’re still on course to announce plans by April 1.” Diaz also made clear his opposition to the BUSD Board.

At the Board meeting parent teacher Sharon Arthur spoke about the “great improvements” that had been made at Willard in the last few years, and about “the successful and growing programs that would have to be curtailed or canceled entirely if Realm were at Willard, and about the difficulty of managing two schools within one location.”

This leaves a commercial property at Addison and 8th Street as the most probable site for REALM’s middle school, and there is a “high likelihood” that its high school will be located at BUSD’s West Campus site, according to Diaz.